Few instances arise when one player can claim an NBA record as his own.

Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in a single game immediately comes to mind as does the season Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double. Then there is the year Nate “Tiny” Archibald led the league in scoring and assists.

And it’s no coincidence that all three players are in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Archibald averaged 34.0 points and 11.4 assists for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in the 1972-73 season. He used skill, tenacity and a ball-dominant approach to complete a feat yet to be matched in the 40 years since.

The march toward his best statistical season started the year before in Cincinnati, where the Kings were the Royals before relocating West.

Coach Bob Cousy approached Archibald, a 23-year-old second-year player, and said, "It’s your ball and your team." Cousy meant it literally. Archibald estimates he had the ball in his hands for 80 to 85 percent of Royals possessions.

When he looks at today’s NBA, Archibald sees only two players capable of becoming the second to lead the league in points and assists. Both possess scoring ability and are surrounded by enough talent to produce big assist numbers. Most important, the ball sticks to their hands as much as it did to Archibald’s.

“When we’re talking about guys who could potentially do that,” Archibald said in an exclusive interview with Sporting News, “we’re talking LeBron James and Chris Paul, because Chris has the ball 80 to 85 percent of the time. LeBron has it a little more.”

It’s unlikely James or Paul will match Archibald’s 26.3 field goal attempts (without a 3-point line) or 46 minutes per game, but each maintains stats that suggest he handles the ball enough to make a run at leading the NBA in points and assists.

James—top five in usage rate, according to Synergy Sports Technology's analysis—has the NBA’s top true shooting percentage at 63.3 percent, an indication of his improvements from beyond the 3-point line. James’ place among the top 10 in free-throw attempts is another valued asset. Archibald led the NBA in free-throw attempts and makes in 1972-73.

Paul uses most of his time to set up teammates and accumulates 9.5 assists per game, though he can create his own shot as well. He is on the low end of field goals assisted at 25.1 percent of all made buckets, numbers that line up with those of players such as Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo.

James and Paul have elements working in their favor. Still, for Archibald, there is clear separation between the two.

“I would think LeBron more because he has more pieces,” Archibald said, referring to James’ supporting cast. “LeBron can score, but it’s the assists. He has Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen is a knockdown shooter. So he has pieces around him so if that’s what he wanted to do, he could do it.

“But I don’t think that’s even in his main goal. What’s in his head is to quietly prove to everybody, which I like the way he’s doing it, that ‘I’ll get one, two, might get more championships. But I’m going to do it quietly because you all cracked on me when I talked about how many I was going to get.’”

One diminishing truth of Archibald’s record season is that, despite his best efforts, Kansas City remained mired in futility. He doesn’t shy away from this fact.

The ’72-73 Kings finished 11th out of 17 teams with a 36-46 record. As Archibald led in virtually every stat, his teammates trailed far behind. For instance, the next-closest Kings scorer was Sam Lacy at 13.5 points per game. The next-highest assist man was Matt Guokas at 5.1 per game.

Archibald sees players of this era as focused on winning and leaving a legacy. He can relate as a 14-year veteran who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1981.

“I think right now the league has so many teams and those guys are looking to win championships and they’re not looking to break records,” Archibald said. “To me, if they break it, that’ll be fine, because before that record, nobody else did it.